Red, white, and blue…. land of freedom! ‘The sea to shining sea”, America the Beautiful, has been attracting millions for centuries for all the freedom, democracy, and opportunities it has to offer. Not only that they have taken an active approach globally to bring that same concept of freedom, peace and democracy. Meanwhile, they’ve overlooked the poverty, violence, streets full of homeless, empty laps of mothers who lost their sons over drugs and gang violence.

Youth violence is widespread in the United States (U.S.). It is the second leading cause of death for young people between the ages of 10 and 24.

Over 780,000 violence-related injuries in young people age 10 to 24 were treated in U.S. emergency rooms in 2004.

5,570 young people age 10 to 24 were murdered—an average of 16 each day—in 2003.

I remember in seventh grade our school closing because of a drive by shooting threat was given for a student at our school. Two Hispanic boys filled our hall ways with blood because of rival gangs. I lived in the outskirts of the city in Houston….Youth-gang related homicides have risen by ore than 50 percent according to Professor James Alan Fox, a leading criminologist at Northeastern University. Gang-related homicides account for approximately half of all homicides in Chicago, the city that had the highest total number of homicides of any city in the country in 2003. Gang-related homicides also account for approximately half of all homicides in Los
Angeles, which led the nation in total homicides the year before (2002).

When money is taken away from social services, governmental aid, after school programs, or jobs are lost, and people roam the streets unemployed they have to look for other means for food and to occupy their time. This leads to drugs, gangs, depression, prostitution, homeless on the streets…Everyone wants to belong and want their share of piece of the ‘American Dream’. Risk factors for youth violence include:

• Prior history of violence
• Drug, alcohol, or tobacco use
• Association with delinquent peers
• Poor family functioning
• Poor grades in school
• Poverty in the community

So, who is going to come and fix these problems in our own backyard? Iraqis? Israelis? Iranians? We want to close our eyes and ears to the terrorism within the country that is leading to shooting like Columbine, Virginia Tech? Brutal gang violence, murders, drugs, between the Bloods, Crypts, MS 13, Hells Angel, Vice Lords, Mexican Mafia, that’s killing the innocents and taking lives of people with sex/drugs/alcohol and more?

While we spend billion of dollars overseas to bring democracy and peace our streets keeps pouring with bloods of the youth. As unemployment rises, so does homeless, depression, drugs, poverty…This isn’t just a minority issues. ITS AN AMERICAN ISSUE that is sucking in lives of the youth and their families…We need to put money into the public school system (especially in the impoverish neighborhoods), find jobs for the unemployed, give money to after school programs/social services, and cleanup the streets….

We have to be worried that our own kids might fall into the crossfire of the gang violence, we maybe the victims burglary because drug addict needs money….

We need to open our eyes and fix the terrorism within the country…This land of the free with its vast skies and purple mountains isn’t as free as we think…